Golden Mid Month Update

Just a brief mid month update again this month as we have had a bit of news flow from a couple of Gold mining related shares which are in the portfolio. Firstly we had Caledonia Mining (CMCL) with their Q3 production update. This saw record production levels of just under 19,000 ounces of gold in the quarter which was 25% up on the same quarter last year. They also firmed up their full year production guidance to the top of the range at 65 – 67,000 ounces as they approach their 20,000 ounces a quarter target.

This meant they were confident in reiterating their production target of 80,000 ounces for 2022 too. This comes after their major investment in the central shaft in their main mining asset but has also allowed them to pay increasing dividends and start exploring further expansion opportunities as announced recently.

This has been a slightly disappointing / frustrating holding, although the dividend increases have been good. Nevertheless it may repay some patience as long as the gold price can maintain the levels it has traded at this year. On that basis it trades very cheaply on 4x PE with a 5% yield. Now I’m sure gold mining stocks are not to every ones taste or risk appetite or for widows and orphans and I have surprised myself by holding some of them these past couple of years. Nevertheless the bull case remains the cheap valuations and the geared play they offer on the gold price if that should take off and break out again above say $1850-1900 in the current inflationary environment. The downside risk would come if gold should breakdown instead through support around $1700 which could then usher in quite a bit of weakness I suspect.

The second update came as expected from one of this months new holdings Capital Limited (CAPD) the mining services company which was the value stock even cheaper than the housebuilder which was bought for the portfolio this month. Their Q3 update read well with their revenue guidance for the full year increased by around 8% and the interim dividend was raised by 33% from 0.9c to 1.2c. They were also positive on the outlook for sustained strong demand from their largely African Gold mining customer base, given the the gold price (as discussed above) remains at close to decade long highs.

The shares have responded positively to this update this morning and look like they are trying to breakout of the top of their recent trading range between 73p and 84p. If they can manage to do this and sustain it then (see chart below) this should open up the possibility of a run up towards the 95p to 100p range where some resistance from old historic highs back in 2011 might kick in perhaps. Nevertheless prior to any estimate changes on the back of today’s increased guidance the shares continue to look very cheap on 7x PE with a modest but growing yield of around 2% based on the current full year dividend forecast of 2.4c. 

Meanwhile if that's not enough for you here are some Golden oldies at the end of this piece for you to enjoy or not as the case may be.